Ecclesiastes chapter 3 was made famous by what rock band? If you’re 40 or younger, you probably think it is the Backstreet Boys, which is incorrect. But if you’re over 50, you probably know the answer. While Solomon seems to say that seasons come and go randomly into our lives, he is actually arguing the opposite. In fact, he is going to tell us every season of our lives is appointed by God. He sends them, and He uses them. Just as our lives are given to us by God, the seasons of our lives are appointed by God, whether they be pleasurable or painful. And even the painful seasons God can use to make something beautiful.

Join us this weekend for a hope filled message centered on God’s good and perfect work in your life, no matter the season.

The book of Ecclesiastes is one of God’s gifts to help us live well in the real world. In chapter 2, the teacher will try to bring happiness and meaning to his life through things like possessions, progress, and pleasure. His life becomes the stuff of bumper stickers and fridge magnets: Live for today. Be happy. Laugh well. Forget your cares. Enjoy yourself. Find your passion. Yet in spite of it all, he will conclude that happiness is still a vanishing vapor.

Join us this weekend as the teacher goes further to find happiness than any of us are capable, and yet still concludes that true happiness can only come through a right relationship with our Creator.

The book of Ecclesiastes is one of God’s gifts to help us live well in the real world. In it, the teacher will note that life in this world is no fairy tale. He will argue that we live in a world where bad things happen, a world where injustice occurs, and where everybody dies. And yet, he will say it is still possible to live a beautiful life!

A recognition of the brevity of life becomes the foundation for enjoying every single day that we are given. So join us as we unpack an incredibly rich book that will challenge and inspire you to a more beautiful life.

This Sunday we finish our study in the book of James. What a study it has been! God has spoken to each teaching pastor and used them to speak to the SCC family.

As we finish the book, James shares the reality that some may wander in the midst of what is happening in their lives. Yet, there are those in the community that have the chance to help bring them back from wandering. The hard part is life throws trails at us and how we walk through them makes a difference where we’ll end up. Each of us has the chance to wander, and in many ways, we don’t want to or plan to. Which leads to our big idea for this Sunday: We all tend to stray, and we all can return to God. God, through His unlimited grace, allows us to come back to Him and uses those around us to help us. Will we listen to God and those who come alongside us?

James 5 is a call to a relationship of deep intimacy and trust in the Almighty in every season of life. It is a call to approach God no matter what you are going through, whether it be good or bad, physical or spiritual.

He begins: “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray.”

That phrase “in trouble” literally means “distressed.” Are you troubled? You should take your trouble to God. Prayer is, before it is anything else, intimacy with God. It is an invitation to invite God into your circumstances and to trust Him in those circumstances. Prayer is not a duty. It's a delight and a gift for the people of God to commune with their adopting, loving, merciful, Heavenly Father.

Baptism is a picture of a new life! This weekend we have the amazing opportunity to celebrate what God is doing here at SCC through the ancient practice of baptism.

Baptism is a reminder to keep our spiritual appetites sharp. It reminds us to never stop pursuing Christ, seeking to know Him, and letting Him fill us with His grace and mercy. Scripture reminds us: “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time-to show us His grace through Christ Jesus.” (2Timothy 1:9)

Life in a broken world is sometimes hard. This is why James tells us in chapter 5 that we must endure suffering with patience. Join us this weekend as we discuss what it looks like to endure hardship patiently. Our God will encourage hundreds this weekend, and you could be one of them.

Pride is the doorway to all the places in life we don’t want to end up. And yet, so often, it's pride that we think is the sin we don't struggle with, or we brush it off because we don't realize just how big a pitfall it is.

But the goal is not humility. Humility is the by-product of the real antidote to pride, and that's intimacy with Jesus. Apart from the Holy Spirit, we stand no chance in the fight against our own pride.

There was an old Persian ruler who wanted to impress a visiting dignitary, so he took him to a glass cage. Inside the glass cage was a lion resting comfortably next to a lamb. The dignitary was blown away and said, “How is it possible for a lion and a lamb to be in the same cage together?” “I do have a secret” said the ruler, “Every morning I put in a new lamb.”

When it comes to relationships, we’ve all been like that lion. But the crazy thing is that we also know what it’s like to be the lamb. If we were honest, we would have to confess that in our relationships we’ve played the part of both the lion and the lamb.

James reminds us that when it comes to our world, there are two kinds of wisdom that bring completely different results to our lives. There is “heavenly wisdom” and there is “earthly wisdom.” Heavenly wisdom is relational. It is the powerful ability to build and keep relationships with others. Earthly wisdom is all about me and what makes me happy. By the way, let’s not confuse wisdom with knowledge. You can have a lot of knowledge, but very little wisdom. Knowledge is theoretical, wisdom is practical.